Erick Mendez
Staff Writer
This story has next to nothing to do with Republican Ron DeSantis. A true opposition to their competition would not risk placing their own credibility into doubt. Over the last few weeks Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has made suggestions and movements that bring his progressivism into question.
Beginning with his social media feed such as Twitter, Mr. Gillum has seemingly abandoned Medicare-For-All by invoking this policy suggestion less and less with time. On his website Andrewgillum.com, Medicare-For-All is not listed as one of his proposals.
On his recent social media postings, he has been declaring Affordable Healthcare for the state of Florida to be a priority. The New York Times reports that Tom Steyer, a California Billionaire will supplement Andrew Gillum’s campaign with $5.2 million of advertising for Florida. A billionaire influencing a politician has always been normalized until the 2016 presidential election.
That election demonstrated that Bernie Sanders did not need to be tethered to what is considered legalized bribery in some circles. Political Action Committee money and paid political consultants taint candidacies. In addition, TheHill.com has reported that Gillum intends to campaign together with Hillary Clinton, a divisive former presidential candidate that lost to Donald Trump. Donald Trump himself, a political first-timer entered and defeated Clinton despite being without prior military or government experience.
At a time when politics is at a critical point in the United States of America, the public has made a colossal error in judgement by not taking the rhetoric of political candidates very seriously. During the Florida Gubernatorial Primaries earlier in the year Andrew Gillum defeated Gwen Graham by speaking to the tune of being the only “non-millionaire” during the debates. At that time, he embraced the idea of Medicare-For-All and dismissed the idea of running “Republican-Lite” campaigns. Republican-Lite is short for a wolf in sheep’s clothing or also known as a Democrat that moves politically to the right on various issues rather than to the left.
At this point the question then becomes has Andrew Gillum lied his way into a potential new job as governor? If he has, then what happens next?
An election is when the general public decides which candidate is best qualified for office much like hiring management at restaurant or retail narrows down the most suitable employees seeking employment.
If Andrew Gillum or any politician attempts to mislead, deny, or withhold important information pertaining to the candidacy of any given position, then I do not see them winning their respective contests. Voters must be inspired to go to the polls due to an honest candidacy, not blackmailed into taking part of a choreographed election as political pawns.
As seen in 2016, the division within the Democratic Party leads to citizens either staying home or voting for a viable alternative third-party candidate. Voting for the lesser of two evils is a failed notion that never forces people to vote under duress of consequences revolving around the other candidate. The idea that voters of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 political primaries would translate to a Hillary Clinton victory in the face of Donald Trump has proven to be an ill-advised strategy. This repeating pattern of high-stakes in an election is not a viable method to win over No-Party Affiliate voters who add to the growth of votership in any election in Florida.
Shaming voters or those who refuse to participate, or register is inappropriate and a waste of energy. At the end of the day, Andrew Gillum will have to look at the cost of seemingly backtracking if he loses his Florida contest. Whether or not I want him to win is irrelevant. I take zero pleasure in observing a recipe for disaster. This is about whether Gillum can win after doing more realistic harm than his perceived good. November will tell the rest of the story.
mende12@mail.broward.edu